Swabian–Alemannic Fastnacht
The Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht, Fasnacht (in Switzerland) or Fasnat/Faschnat (in Vorarlberg) is the pre-Lenten carnival of Alamanni, Alemannic folklore in Switzerland, southern Germany, Alsace and Vorarlberg. Etymology Popular etymology often links ''Fastnacht'' (in Mainz also ''Fassenacht'', in Switzerland ''Fasnacht'', in Swabia ''Fasnet'', ''Fasent'') with ''fasten'' ("to fast") – allegedly from celebrations on the eve preceding fasting. In the beginning of the 20th century it was a common assumption that the tradition had its roots in pre-Christian ritual. comparative linguistics, Comparison of dialect variants, however, yields an Old High German ''*fasanaht'', with an element ''fasa-'' of unclear meaning. A likely derivation looked to Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European ' "purify" (cognate to ''pavamana, pava-mana''), or alternatively to Middle High German ''vaselen'' "prosper, bud", and interpreted the festival as a fertility rite. Historians around Wern ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the final day of Shrovetide, which marks the end of the pre-Lenten season. Lent begins the following day with Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday is observed in many Christian state, Christian countries through participating in Confession (religion)#Christianity, confession, the ritual burning of the previous year's Holy Week palms, finalizing one's Lenten sacrifice, as well as eating pancakes and other sweets. Shrove Tuesday is observed by many Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Western Orthodox, Western-rite Orthodox Christians, and Roman Catholics, who "make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with." This moveable feast is determined by date of Easter, the date of Easter. The expression "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word ''wikt:en:shrive, shr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fastnacht Mask
The Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht, Fasnacht (in Switzerland) or Fasnat/Faschnat (in Vorarlberg) is the pre-Lenten carnival of Alamanni, Alemannic folklore in Switzerland, southern Germany, Alsace and Vorarlberg. Etymology Popular etymology often links ''Fastnacht'' (in Mainz also ''Fassenacht'', in Switzerland ''Fasnacht'', in Swabia ''Fasnet'', ''Fasent'') with ''fasten'' ("to fast") – allegedly from celebrations on the eve preceding fasting. In the beginning of the 20th century it was a common assumption that the tradition had its roots in pre-Christian ritual. comparative linguistics, Comparison of dialect variants, however, yields an Old High German ''*fasanaht'', with an element ''fasa-'' of unclear meaning. A likely derivation looked to Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European ' "purify" (cognate to ''pavamana, pava-mana''), or alternatively to Middle High German ''vaselen'' "prosper, bud", and interpreted the festival as a fertility rite. Historians around Wern ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carnival
Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typically involves public party, celebrations, including events such as parades, public street party, street parties and other entertainments, combining some elements of a circus. Elaborate costumes and masks allow people to set aside their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity.Bakhtin, Mikhail. 1984. ''Rabelais and his world''. Translated by H. Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Original edition, ''Tvorchestvo Fransua Rable i narodnaia kul'tura srednevekov'ia i Renessansa'', 1965. Participants often indulge in excessive consumption of alcohol, meat, and other foods that will be forgone during upcoming Lent. Traditionally, butter, milk, and other animal products were not consumed "excessively", r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Perchta
or (' Bertha'; ), also commonly known as () and other variations, was once known as a goddess in Alpine paganism in the Upper German and also Austrian and Slovenian regions of the Alps. Her name may mean 'the bright one' or 'the bearer' (, from Proto-Germanic *''berhtaz'') and is probably related to the name , meaning 'the feast of the Epiphany'. Eugen Mogk provides an alternative etymology, attributing the origin of the name to the Old High German verb , meaning 'hidden' or 'covered'. The exact origin or time of origin is unknown. Perchta is often identified as stemming from the same Germanic goddess as Holda and other female figures of Germanic folklore (see Frija-Frigg). According to Jacob Grimm and Lotte Motz, Perchta is Holda's southern cousin or equivalent, as they both share the role of "guardian of the beasts" and appear during the Twelve Days of Christmas, when they oversee spinning.Motz according to Hilton 1984. Grimm says Perchta or Berchta was known "precis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Schmalz
Schmaltz (also spelled schmalz or shmalz) is rendered (clarified) chicken or goose fat. It is an integral part of traditional Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, where it has been used for centuries in a wide array of dishes, such as chicken soup, latkes, matzah brei, chopped liver, matzah balls, fried chicken, and many others, as a cooking fat, spread, or flavor enhancer. Etymology The noun ''Schmaltz'' is derived from the German verb 'to melt', from the West Germanic root , modern English ''to smelt''. It entered English through Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews who used to refer to kosher poultry fat; the Yiddish word refers to rendered chicken fat. The English term ''schmaltz'' is derived from Yiddish and is cognate with the German term , which can refer to any rendered fat of animal origin, including lard (more precisely ) and clarified butter (); though according to German law, must exclusively refer to a lard-based product in a commercial context. English use tends to fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Standard German
Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for communication between different dialect areas. German is a Pluricentric language, pluricentric Abstand and ausbau languages#Roofing, Dachsprache with currently three codified (or standardised) specific national varieties: German Standard German, Austrian German#Standard Austrian German, Austrian Standard German and Swiss Standard German. Regarding the spelling and punctuation, a recommended standard is published by the Council for German Orthography which represents the governments of all majority and minority German-speaking countries and dependencies. Adherence is obligatory for government institutions, including schools. Although there is no official standards body regulating pronunciation, there is a long-standing ''de facto'' standard pronu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and Alms#Christianity, almsgiving before the arrival of Easter. Ash Wednesday is observed by Christians of the Catholic, Lutheranism, Lutheran, Moravian Church, Moravian, Anglican (Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopalian), and United and uniting churches, United Protestant denominations, as well as by some churches in the Reformed tradition, Reformed, (including certain Congregationalist, Continental Reformed, and Presbyterian churches), Baptist, Methodist and Church of the Nazarene, Nazarene traditions. Ash Wednesday is traditionally observed with Religious_fasting#Christianity, fasting and abstinence from meat in several Christian denominations. As it is the first day of Lent, many Christians begin Ash Wednesday by marking a Lenten ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city and state. Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The country occupies an area of and has Austrians, a population of around 9 million. The area of today's Austria has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic, Paleolithic period. Around 400 BC, it was inhabited by the Celts and then annexed by the Roman Empire, Romans in the late 1st century BC. Christianization in the region began in the 4th and 5th centuries, during the late Western Roman Empire, Roman period, followed by the arrival of numerous Germanic tribes during the Migration Period. A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total land area of Germany, and with over 13.08 million inhabitants, it is the list of German states by population, second most populous German state, behind only North Rhine-Westphalia; however, due to its large land area, its population density is list of German states by population density, below the German average. Major cities include Munich (its capital and List of cities in Bavaria by population, largest city, which is also the list of cities in Germany by population, third largest city in Germany), Nuremberg, and Augsburg. The history of Bavaria includes its earliest settlement by Iron Age Celts, Celtic tribes, followed by the conquests of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, when the territory was incorporated into the provinces of Ra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a total area of nearly , it is the third-largest German state by both List of German states by area, area (behind Bavaria and Lower Saxony) and List of German states by population, population (behind North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria). The List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city in Baden-Württemberg is the state capital of Stuttgart, followed by Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Other major cities are Freiburg im Breisgau, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Konstanz, Pforzheim, Reutlingen, Tübingen, and Ulm. Modern Baden-Württemberg includes the historical territories of Baden, Prussian Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, and Württemberg. Baden-Württemberg became a state of West Germany in April 1952 through ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alemannic German
Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish (''Alemannisch'', ), is a group of High German dialects. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alemanni ("all men"). Distribution Alemannic dialects are spoken by approximately ten million people in several countries: * In Europe: ** Switzerland: all German-speaking parts of the country except Samnaun ** Germany: centre and south of Baden-Württemberg, Swabia, and certain districts of Bavaria ** Austria: Vorarlberg, Reutte District of Tyrol ** Liechtenstein ** France: Alsace region ( Alsatian dialect) and in some villages of the Phalsbourg county, in Lorraine ** Italy: Gressoney-La-Trinité, Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Issime, Alagna Valsesia, Rimella and Formazza, in some other villages almost extinct *Outside Europe: ** United States: Allen and Adams County, Indiana, by the Amish there and also in their daughter settlements in Indiana and other U.S. states. ** Venezuela: Colonia Tovar ( Colonia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |